In search of draught cattle: An identification method

Draught cattle, used for ploughing and carting, contributed to drive social transformations in prehistoric societies by replacing or complementing human power. However, identifying draught cattle from archaeological sites has proven challenging due to the dearth of direct evidence. This paper presents a biometric approach to identifying draught cattle in archaeological assemblages based on metapodials, and first and second phalanges. The analysis includes over 150 modern non-draught cattle encompassing various species and breeds, along with a smaller group of draught cattle. Statistical tests and multivariate analyses were first adopted, revealing distinct morphological differences between the two groups, which do not appear to be highly correlated with age. Although cattle limb bone morphology could vary between breeds, the principal component analysis suggests traction is the predominant factor distinguishing between modern draught and non-draught cattle. Biometric data from metapodials and phalanges were then applied to construct five predictive logistic regression models, with the first phalanges showing the highest balanced accuracy for separating the draught and non-draught groups, a clear advance from Lin et al. (2016)'s pioneering work. The predictive models were then applied to data from two British sites to demonstrate the applicability of the proposed approach to archaeological assemblages. The results show that this biometric approach has the potential to significantly enhance our understanding of draught cattle exploitation in the past. • This study presents biometric analyses of over 150 modern non-draught cattle and a smaller group of draught cattle. • The first phalanges demonstrate the highest balanced accuracy in distinguishing between draught and non-draught groups. • The biometric approach proposed in this study offers an effective tool for advancing our understanding of draught cattle use in past societies.